Purpose
Digitalisation has increased the importance of online forms of marketing, including social media (SM) marketing, for entrepreneurial firms. This paper aims to identify digital engagement strategies and tactics in developing SM marketing capability.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses ethnographic content analysis of an entrepreneurial firm and a network of business-to-business (B2B) actors to classify 1,248 B2B Facebook posts and Twitter tweets from a case of an artisan food producer in addition to semi-structured interviews with 26 networked actors.
Findings
The authors derive a range of digital engagement strategies (8 in total) and tactics (15 in total) for the four defining layers of SM marketing capability, namely, connect, engage, co-ordinate and collaborate.
Research limitations/implications
This research focuses on a case study and a network of B2B actors within the artisan food sector. However, the strategies and tactics are applicable to other entrepreneurial firms and contexts.
Practical implications
The digital engagement strategies and tactics are of direct practical benefit to entrepreneurial firms willing to learn and develop SM marketing capability in interaction with their B2B partners.
Originality/value
This study investigates three under-researched areas, SM as it relates to B2B relationships, and entrepreneurship, and marketing capability gaps in an era of rapid digitalisation. The definition of SM marketing capability and associated digital engagement strategies and tactics are new to the extant literature moving forward the understanding of SM B2B marketing in theory and practice.
Purpose
This paper aims to explore coopetition as a fundamental feature of the collaborative dynamics inherent in entrepreneurial ventures. The authors present a conceptual model and definition of entrepreneurial coopetition, the latter being explained as entrepreneurial involvement in simultaneous cooperative and competitive interactions with business network actors in a relational environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the micro-brewing industry in a Southern State in the USA, as an empirical base, the authors use an abductive case study approach drawing from multiple data sources including semi-structured interviews, marketing materials, information available on websites and social media, as well as information contained in newspaper articles and policy documents.
Findings
Findings suggest that entrepreneurs habitually interact in a coopetitive manner through norms formed in interaction and that these are often in response to the environment.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are limited to one particular context. Future research could include entrepreneurs from other sectors, state or country contexts which may reveal other coopetition themes.
Practical implications
More benefits in coopetition could be reaped if the entrepreneur were more cognitively aware of, and strategically planned for, the coopetitive processes in which they are (or could be) engaged.
Originality/value
The authors open the black box of entrepreneurial coopetition by putting forward and empirically examining a conceptual definition of entrepreneurial coopetition. This work moves the coopetition discussion beyond the motives behind and consequences of coopetition, analysing interactions from a process perspective. The authors respond to recent calls for a deeper understanding of coopetitive mind-sets and a multilevel approach to coopetition.
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